First and foremost, trapping a mole is no different than trapping a fox. Location Location location for the trap. I have a saying that I have. There are a lot of places that some animals will go sometimes, But only a few places that all the animals go all the time. Moles are no different. That mole has a place where it starts from and goes to many places from there when ever. but there will be travel routes used to go to these many spots. Where you see all the, what I call squiggly wiggly trails or mounds all bunched up, that is feeders. where they find a load of worms mainly in my area and or grubs or other insects in a pocket. They hit that area and move on, spending time there from a few hours to a day then gone. I believe that as the mole is working the area eating the worms, many worms are beating feet and getting out of dodge LOL. Setting traps in these spots, which by the way is where most homeowners and new guys set, are, and only in my opinion, is a waste of traps and time. I look for the straight liners. The trails or mounds that go in a direction from a point to point. Maybe better put, from that one spot that always has sign to a point where there is a food source. flower bed out in the yard, from a sidewalk to a fence line. around the foundation, in other words travel routes. and set them, not feeders. For me I set 2 to 4 traps per job, I don't need more in my area as these straight liners are few compared to the feeders, and most of my jobs are done in 1 to 4 checks.
I struggled with moles bad. It wasn't until the late 80's when a gentleman by the name of Tim Wilks (if my memory serves me right,) (Paul May remember if that is the correct). He took me out in the front yard of a hotel where a wildlife conference was being held, and showed me where and how to set for these things. That next week at home, I started catching moles LOL
Also although I have heard about moles coming out of the ground, in my area the only type of mole that will come up out of the ground is a star nose and only because the tunnel is so shallow and wet that the tunnel just opens for 3 or 4 inches, my easterns do not come up and out. but the voles will open a hole in the tunnel system that the mole is not using anymore.